Virjune Manufacturing Co: Inside Waterbury's Vacant Factory

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J and I were already having a rough day. We'd just driven across town to check out an old industrial site he hadn't visited in a while, only to find it erased. Nothing left but a slab of concrete and chain-link fence. So we took a detour. Sometimes you salvage a disappointing afternoon with a backup plan, even if you're just ticking a box. The former Virjune plant hides in plain sight off Thomaston Avenue. If you drive past in summer, you'll miss it completely. Trees and shrubs swallow the building whole, nature reclaiming what industry left behind. Come winter, though, when the branches go bare and the world turns gray, the red brick skeleton reveals itself. Even then, you have to know where to look. I pulled up old Sanborn maps to trace the building's history. The earliest tenant was an auto body shop in 1922. By February 1950, something bigger had moved in. The map labels it simply "Stamping Wks." No company name. No flourish. Just function. That namele...
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The Gentrification House

 

A street corner in Brooklyn showcasing the stark contrast between old and new: a graffiti-covered, dilapidated building with a weathered façade stands beside a modern, multi-story apartment with clean lines and glass balconies. A pedestrian crossing in the foreground underscores the crossroads of urban change and gentrification.


I believe I saw this house on social media during the pandemic. It wasn't until I was hunting boarded-up houses around Bushwick Brooklyn I came upon the 'gentrification house' by happenstance. I pulled over immediately and went to work to find the right angle. I knew it was going to be a very pleasing aesthetic composition because of the pointed contrast. When you see it it is very striking in its presence. All over the city, you see the same architectural housing popping up all with the same aesthetic without any difference in uniformity or uniqueness. Even the NYTimes did a piece on this budget constraining developer buildings across several states such as Nashville, Denver, and Seattle.






Source:


1. Kodé, Anna, "America, the Bland," January 20, 2023, NYTimes

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